


Afraid for You

by agoddamnsupernova



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I just wanted to write about danny, I promise, Multi, it might make sense at some point, its gonna be fluffy, just trust me, let's be real, there's barely any plot here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 00:20:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19366528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agoddamnsupernova/pseuds/agoddamnsupernova
Summary: Carmilla shows up in the last place Danny ever expected her to be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what this is, I just really fucking miss Danny and wanted to write about her. Enjoy

Her fingers burn, the skin cracked and pink from the amount of bleach in the water. “Hey Lawrence, you finished yet?” A voice calls out as she tosses her rag back into the bucket. 

“Yeah,” she replies as she pushes herself up off the floor, her joints groaning with the effort. “Deep cleaning is the worst.”

“Thankfully they only make us do it once a month,” Waverly hums, tucking her thumbs into her belt loops. “Wanna come back to the homestead? Nicole is making dinner.” 

“Nah, but thanks,” Danny says softly, emptying out the bucket into the mop sink. “I’m just gonna finish up here and go home.” 

“Okay, well, the offer is there if you change your mind,” Waves smiles, moving to pat Danny’s arm. 

“Give Nic my love,” is her response, offering a small smile of her own. 

Nicole and Waverly have been so kind to her since she showed up out of the blue earlier in the season. Though she was lucky Wynonna hadn’t blasted her head off when she stepped foot into the homestead, eyes dark and skin nearly see through from lack of feeding. 

Purgatory had much more menacing monsters to deal with than just one vampire. Especially when that vampire was related to the town sheriff. 

_ “Danny?” Nicole gasps, those familiar brown eyes wide as she scrambles to stand in front of Wynonna’s gun, which Danny would later find out was named Peacekeeper. “Danny, what happened to you?”  _

_ “College...am I right?” Danny chuckles out, her throat burning as the scent of her sister’s lifeblood calls to the monster barely caged within her chest. “I’ll...explain it all later, I just...I need...” _

_ “I’ve got you,” Nicole cuts her off and Danny can hear the erratic way her sister’s heart beats in her chest.  _

_ “You’re afraid,” the young vampire states, shoving her shaking hands into her hoodie.  _

_ “For you,” Nic murmurs, slowly pushing Peacemaker’s muzzle toward the ground. “Never of you.” _

 

Danny walks Waverly out to Shorty’s small parking lot, waiting until the taillights disappear in the distance before making her way back inside of the bar. 

Shorty’s wasn’t terrible, definitely wasn’t the worst job she’s had since the disaster that was Silas, but part of her misses that life. Misses who she was before Laura Hollis and Carmilla Karnstein. 

She lets out a soft sigh as she takes in the room, listens to the faint sounds of mice crawling around the crawl space. She’s about to call it quits, just shut the lights off and leave when a familiar scent assaults her nostrils. 

Before she can fully understand what’s happening, her body is reacting on instinct. Danny whirls around, fangs bared, knees bent in a half crouch. A low growl issues from her chest, eyes nearly black as she takes in the new presence. 

“Easy, Xena, I come in peace,” Carmilla’s smooth voice says lowly, pale hands held up in surrender. “No need to go feral.” 

“Fuck you,” Danny spits as she straightens up. Her eyes return to their usual, sparkling blue, but her fangs are still extended, that part of herself still wary of the brunette.

“Now, now, we both know, you’d like that too much,” Carm smirks, dropping her hands to her sides. “You’re hard to track down, you know that?”

“Kind of the point,” Danny snorts, moving her way to the bar to grab her things. “What do you want, Karnstein?”

“To bring you home,” the brunette says softly, the tone making Danny pause. “Everyone misses you.” 

“No one gives a shit about me, not since my heart stopped,” the vampire growls, the pain of her friend’s fearful faces the last time she had seen them...it was too much.

“That’s not true and you know it!” Carmilla snaps, slamming a hand on the counter, the action making the whole bar shake. 

That’s when Danny notices something, or rather the absence of something. “Your heart.”

“Dead and cold as yours,” Carmilla sighs softly, smoothing dainty hands over the wood grain. “You’ve missed a lot, Lawrence.” 

“Clearly,” Danny says with a roll of her eyes, her hand wrapping around the strap of her backpack. “You don’t have a place to stay, do you?”

Carmilla shrugs, trying not to look hopeful as Danny pulls out her keys. “Come on, Elvira, can’t have you roaming Purgatory, Wynonna might be sober enough to figure out what you are.” 

“Wynonna?” Carmilla asks as they make their way out of the bar, Danny pausing to shut everything down and lock the doors. 

“I’ll explain later, just trust me, you wouldn’t want to meet her without someone she knows around,” the redhead replies, grabbing the arm of Carmilla’s jacket, pulling her toward the battered truck Nicole had gifted her. 

“Nice tin can,” Carmilla mutters, knocking her knuckles against the dash while Danny fiddles with the heat dial. “Why do you bother?” 

“Old habits,” Danny shrugs, letting the engine warm up before she’s pulling out of the snowy lot. 

They’re silent for most of the trip, Danny’s fingers as tight around the wheel as she dares. The quiet is uncomfortable and tense until Danny finds herself unable to hold in the one question that’s been burning on the back of her tongue.

“How’s Laura?” She asks so quietly, she’s not sure that even Carmilla’s hearing will pick it up. 

There’s a pause and Danny is about to repeat herself when Carmilla replies. “She’s okay, been through a lot.” 

“She’s the reason I’ve been looking for you,” Carm murmurs, fingers digging at the hole in her jeans. “She calls for you when she has nightmares. She doesn’t even realize it.” 

That fact makes Danny’s chest ache in a way she thought she had lost after being turned. “I...I can’t go back,” she sighs as they pull into her driveway. 

“Nice place,” Carm comments, a smooth change of subject. “How do you afford it, working at that shit hole?” 

“It’s my sister’s,” is all she says before she slips out of the truck, snow crunching under her boots. “Shorty’s isn’t a shit hole.” 

“So, there’s another Lawrence, eh?” Carmilla inquires, following after Danny, her feet sinking into the soft powder. It takes everything Danny has not to chuckle at how much shorter it makes the other vampire. 

“She’s not a Lawrence,” Danny comments, pushing open the door. “We have the same mom,” she continues, unsure of why she was telling Carmilla anything about Nicole. 

“God, you two could almost be twins,” Carmilla snorts, holding up a picture of Nicole and Danny that Waverly had taken shortly after Danny had moved in. “She can’t be more than what, four years older than you?” 

Danny shrugs, rubbing the back of her neck. “Nicole grew up with her dad in Seattle. We met when I was seven, she was twelve.” 

“How did you even meet?” Carmilla asks as she putters around the house, pausing at pictures and awards and even Danny’s diploma from Silas. The framed piece of paper makes the older vampire’s movements stutter like she was being thrown back in time. 

“Uh, I found a picture of Nicole in a box in my mom’s closet and asked about her. She couldn’t really lie and so she got in touch with Nic’s dad,” Danny replies, her hands twitching at her sides, unsure if she should pull Carmilla away from the diploma. “Then we made our parents promise to let us see each other. So, I would spend the summer in Seattle and Nicole would spend winter break with us.” 

“Touching,” the brunette hums before she’s moving away from the wall, her movements a little jerky. “How did she feel about you going off to another country for school?” 

“She was scared for me,” Danny says softly, moving to the kitchen, keeping the other vampire in her peripheral. “But, she was also proud of me, so...there’s that.” 

Carmilla just nods, settling herself on the couch, feet pulled up onto the cushion. Danny can’t help but compare the position with Carmilla’s cat form. Speaking of cat, Nicole’s decides to make an appearance as Danny pulls out two packs of blood from the fridge. 

“And who are you?” Carmilla asks the calico who has made a nest of the vampire’s lap. “So, sweet,” she murmurs, fingers brushing through soft fur.

“That’s Calamity,” Danny answers, pouring the blood into two mugs before popping them into the microwave. “She’s Nic’s.” 

“I like her,” the immortal responds, scratching under Calamity’s chin with a smile. It almost makes Danny smile, almost. 

“Nicole likes to take in strays,” Danny hums, bringing Carm the warmed mug of blood. She settles on the other side of the couch, hands wrapped around the scalding ceramic. Her hands are still pink and smell of bleach, but they no longer sting, the cracks already healed. 

“A habit you seem to share,” Carmilla states before taking a sip from the mug, a soft sigh falling from her lips. “How do you get human blood?” 

“I have connections,” the redhead replies, taking a sip of her own, letting it take away the burn in her throat. “It never stops, does it?” 

“What?” Carmilla asks, turning her head, those dark eyes wide with curiosity. 

“The burn...the thirst,” Danny all but whispers, something close to childlike fear settling in her chest. She hated this, hated the monster she was forced to be. 

“It doesn’t stop, not really,” Carmilla starts, shifting so they are facing one another, Calamity mewling unhappily as she hops off the vampire’s lap. “But, it gets easier to ignore, easier to control.” 

Danny is quiet for a moment, hands gripping the mug a little too tightly. The ceramic lets out a soft grinding noise as a spider web of cracks appear along the surface. “Easy, Danny,” Carm’s voice is soft and understanding as small hands smooth over hers. 

Danny inhales slowly, her grip easing as Carmilla’s thumbs rub circles against the backs of her hands. “I can’t go back, Carm...not after everything I did.” 

“You couldn’t help it, Lawrence,” Carm sighs softly, taking the abused ceramic from Danny’s hands, settling it gingerly on the coffee table. “My mother, she has a way of using people. You were just a pawn in her game. We all know that.” 

“I did a lot of shitty things before your mother turned me,” Danny replies, running shaking hands through her hair, turning it into a tangled mess. “I was a dick to you, my friends...to Laura.” 

“You were doing what you thought was best,” the brunette says, reaching for Danny’s hands again. “Sure, you did some fucked up things, you even got yourself...you got yourself killed, Danny.” 

“Do you know how much that fucked us all up?” Carmilla asks, her voice catching at the end. “You were gone. Your stupid, annoying, overly bright light was extinguished.” 

Danny is quiet once more, a surprising throb in her heart making her choke on any response she could come up with. The moment stretches into an unbearable silence before Danny starts to cry. Painful, rib cracking sobs fall from her lips as Carmilla gathers Danny into her arms, pressing the young vampire’s face into her shoulder. 

Carmilla murmurs soft words against her ear as Danny cries herself out, her fingers clutching Carm’s jacket tightly. It was all so fucked up, her life had ended, everything had changed and here she was, crying into the shoulder of the only person in the world who understood her pain. Maybe she's been wrong to hate Carmilla all these years. 

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispers between sobs, the phrase repeated while Carmilla tries to hush her. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Carmilla murmurs into her hair, hands smoothing up and down Danny’s back. “I’ve got you.” 

Danny’s eyes fall shut as her breathing evens out, Carmilla’s warmth soaking into every iced over crack in Danny’s heart, thawing out long-forgotten feelings. “I can’t go home, not yet,” she whispers, even as Laura’s brilliant smile flashes behind her eyes. 

“It’s okay, we have all the time in the world.” 


	2. Chapter 2

When Danny wakes, she finds her face pressed against worn leather that smells of sweet roses and copper. Her head is moving, up and down, slow and steady. It only takes her a moment to realize she had fallen asleep on top of Carmilla, though she can’t figure out when. 

A blush burns across her cheeks, staining them red as her hair as she pushes off of the other vampire. “Not comfortable enough?” Carm asks, her voice low and gravelly from sleep. 

“I just...I didn’t...” Danny struggles to find words when the front door opens, icy air flooding into the room. “Nicole.”

“Danny,” Nicole chuckles, her eyes falling to the couch with raised brows. “And friend?”

“Uh...” 

“Carmilla,” the older vampire replies, sitting up smoothly, centuries-old charm sliding into place with a sleepy smile. “Nice to meet you.” 

Nicole’s eyes narrow, flickering between the two vampires before she stops on Danny. “Talk, outside,” is all she says before turning on her heel, heading back into the winter air. 

Danny bulks, glancing at Carmilla before shoving herself off the couch, leaving the brunette alone to follow her sister. 

“What is  _ she  _ doing here, Danny?” Nic hisses out as soon as their at the end of the driveway, apparently deemed far enough from a vampires eavesdropping.

“She just showed up last night!” Danny defends, throwing her hands up. “She found me at Shorty’s after I sent Waves home and kept going on about how everyone at home misses me.”

Nicole’s jaw sets at the word home and Danny knows she’s struck a nerve. Purgatory had been her safe haven for the last six months...but if Danny was being honest, it would never be home and it seems Nicole had figured that out. 

“Nic, I didn’t ask for this,” she sighs, glancing over her shoulder at the house. “But I would be lying if I didn’t say it’s nice to see her stupid face.”

Nicole seems to soften a bit, though her hands remain firmly on her hips, reminding Danny so much of their mother. “Is she in control?” 

“You know she’s a vampire again?” Danny asks, brows raised at her sister. “How?”

“Same way I knew about you that first night,” Nicole replies with a shake of her head. “You both have this aura about you. Not exactly a shadow, but  _ something.”  _

Danny feels cold, not because of the snow or winter’s wind, but the fact that her sister could sense the monster within. “Oh.”

“Hey, don’t look like that,” her sister says softly, shifting so she can cup Danny’s face in her surprisingly warm hands. “You are my sister, I don’t care what has happened to you, or how you’ve changed, you are still you.” 

“I’m not so sure about that, Nic,” Danny replies softly, her voice cracking on her sibling’s name. 

“Well I am,” Nicole says firmly before kissing pulling Danny forward to kiss her forehead. “You’ve done nothing but good since you stepped foot in this town.” 

“You’ve helped us fight evil, saved Waverly’s life...kept Wynonna from being more reckless than necessary,” the sheriff continues, shaking her head a bit. “You are  _ good _ , Danny.” 

They stay like that for a little while, Danny in Nicole’s arms, eyes burning from tears that threaten to spill over. Danny’s not sure how much time has passed when she pulls away from her sister, slipping their fingers together. 

“Come and meet Carmilla, the right way,” she says softly, ignoring the way her chest feels tight at the thought of Nicole not liking Carm. “She’s not as bad as she could be...and she’s far more in control than I am.” 

Nicole nods, squeezing Danny’s hand as they make their way back to the house. They find that Carmilla has not only moved from the couch, but has started breakfast for the house and fed Calamity.

“Well then,” Nicole chuckles, leaning against the back of the couch to take her boots off. “Quite the house guest.” 

“If there’s one thing Laura taught me, it’s that food is the best way to smooth things over,” Carmilla says over her shoulder as she adds more bacon to the crackling pan on the stove. 

“She’s not wrong,” Nic grins, shrugging her jacket off. “Do you even eat?” 

“Yeah, I mean, it doesn’t really do much for me, but...old habits,” Carmilla shrugs, gaze flickering to Danny who was in the process of peeling off her soaked socks. “D-did you not put shoes on before going outside?” 

“I didn’t really think about it,” Danny replies sheepishly, leaving the soaked garments near the heater vent to dry. “Not like I can really feel the cold anyway.” 

Carmilla’s brow furrows but she says nothing, instead, focusing on the food in front of her. Nicole looks between the two vampires before shrugging at her sister. 

“Anyone want coffee?” Nic asks as she makes her way over to the small machine. 

“Yeah, thanks,” Danny replies, settling herself down on one of the bar stools, watching her sister and her frenemy meander around the kitchen.

It was an odd sight, watching Nicole move around Carmilla’s small figure with such ease as if the two had been friends for years. “She's smaller than Waverly,” Danny finds herself chuckling, a warmth in her chest when she finds that Carmilla is blushing.

“Sure is,” Nicole grins, patting the top of Carm’s head. “Not by much, though.” 

“Who’s Waverly?” Carmilla asks, running a hand through her mussed hair. 

“My fiancé,” Nicole beams proudly, pulling her phone out. “Here, that’s us after our hike the other morning.” 

Carmilla seems to freeze, her fingers wrapped around the phone a little too tightly. “What’s wrong?” Danny asks brows raised as Carm puts the phone down with shaking hands. 

“She just...looks like someone I know,” Carmilla replies, her voice low and uneven. The vampire clears her throat as she turns to unload their breakfast onto some plates. 

Danny and Nicole share a look before Danny presses forward, hands smoothing over the granite counter. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Carm is quiet for a moment, her hands slowly shredding the paper towel in her hands. “Danny, you remember my stories of Ell, right?” 

When Danny nods, Carmilla pulls a wallet out of her back pocket, fingers smoothing over the worn leather before she’s cracking it open. “I wonder if your Waverly is related to her,” she says to Nicole, pulling out a small photo.

It was clearly a print of an original painting but the resemblance was unmistakable. “Holy shit, they look identical,” Nicole breathes out, brushing her fingers against the picture. 

“Yeah,” Carmilla says, shaking her head. “Sort if wished I had known sooner, I would have asked Ell herself.” 

“Excuse me?” Danny replies, brows raised nearly to her hairline. “Ask her how?”

“Like I said last night, you’ve missed a lot, Lawrence.” 

* * *

After Carmilla finished her tale of being trapped by her former lover, nearly losing Laura (again) and ending up a vampire once more, Nicole and Danny stare at her with slack jaws and wide eyes.

“Apparently you’re not the only one who’s had an eventful few months,” Nicole says after a moment, nudging her sister’s shoulder.

“How eventful?” Carmilla asks, clearly grateful to have a change of subject. “What have you been up to in the last five and a half years?”

“Well, I’ve been here for the last six months,” Danny states as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“And for the five years before that?” Carmilla presses, finding that Nicole seemed to share her curiosity. 

“It’s...kind of a long story,” Danny sighs, pushing a hand into her hair. 

Carmilla seems to sense her unease to talk about her past in front of Nicole and just nods, shrugging a bit. “Well, perhaps we’ll unpack that another day.” 

Danny smiles slightly, leaning her head into her hand. “Nic, do you think we should tell Wynonna about Carm? Or just let it blow over since she won’t be here long?”

“Who said I wouldn’t be here long?” Carmilla asks, leaning against the counter looking far more offended than she has any right to. 

“I assumed you would go back when I said I wasn’t ready,” the young vampire replies, looking a bit sheepish. 

“You know what assuming gets you,” Carmilla chuckles, a cat like grin spreading across her features.

“Well...you already knew I was an ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still have no idea where this is going! But it's going somewhere haha


End file.
